The Dining Room Situation gives me a headache

[kooljamming]

Regretfully, I will not go to Princess again. I get a headache sitting at tables with total strangers.

 

In dining rooms in the evening on Sapphire Princess couples get the shaft, having no elbow room or personal space from other adjacent couples. Why do I have more or less to keep my mouth shut dining with my spouse and having to overhear the conversation, mundane OR intimate, of the other couples inches away.

 

Celebrity and HAL give a bit of room for our own intimacy of conversation.

 

Then there is breakfast, lunch and tea rubbing elbows with strangers. Like I said, it gives a headache.

 

I don't mean to be rude but is this something others should care about? You did your research and chose a product that's best for you...Congrats!

We are going traditional dining and I am the Queen of Laidback....it's a Jamaican thing! It's all No Problem Mon........Enjoy!

[Cruisin' Chick]

Ok, I think I'm really the true laid back person in LA (most of the time my cell phone is off, and if it's on, it's just in case my girl's school needs to contact me). Grew up in the Valley. Don't drink coffee.

 

We always ask for traditional dining. We want a big table. Hubby once was told by waitstaff that the best waiters tend to be assigned the bigger tables (tips!). We enjoy meeting and talking with other passengers, and having regular tablemates that we can get updated on their cruise without starting at the beginning each time ("where are you from?", etc.)

 

The only time that we got a table by ourselves (when we booked a Carnival cruise about ten days before sailing), we kept wanting to switch to a bigger table.

 

If we want to eat by ourselves, we could go to the Horizon at an unbusy time and grab a small table.

[Ethel5]

Strangers give me a headache because it is a tragedy that I don't care what they are saying or who they are.

 

 

If you truly didn't care, you wouldn't get a headache. :D

[cynbar]

We love anytime dining, but I actually agree with the OP about a lot of the tables for 2 -- they are just too close to each other!! I'm not antisocial in the least and sometimes enjoy sitting with others, but when we request a table for 2, I would rather it was a table for 2 and not a split table for 4 with almost no room between them. Plus, it's hard to get in and out of, and not so easy on the waiter who is serving us, either. Is this a deal breaker for Princess?? Absolutely not, but I do have to say that we were on NCL's Gem last summer and they did a much better job of designing their tables for 2. And by the way, I am still a Princess cheerleader, but I don't have to like every single aspect of the line.

[dancing lady]

We always do Anytime Dining and the majority of the time we find it quite interesting dining with strangers. It's fun talking about where everyone is from and what tours we all took that day. We've met some great folks early on and had dinner with them again. Sometimes it isn't great but, hey, it doesn't last forever and you don't have to sit with them again.

 

Dancing Lady

[RVD]

I think part of the cruise experience is meeting new people. I always enjoy meeting new people over meals in the dining room.

 

With that said, last year I went on a cruise with my parents (both in their 60s) and they don't speak much English. It was a bit stressful for them to go to the dining room and have to try to understand and make small talk with the other guests. They didn't really mind too much since everyone was simply being nice by engaging in small talk but it was a bit stressful for them.

 

In terms of the tables for 2, yeah they are close together but I spent some time in Germany where if you showed up to a regular sit down restaurant and asked for a table for 2, most of the time they would sit us at a table for 4 with 2 other strangers. These are 2 strangers sitting at the exact same table as you so there isn't any kind of gap. After getting used to that, these table with a few inches of space is a luxury.

 

But like I said when I started this post, one of the most enjoyable things about cruising is the opportunity to meet new people. I suppose if you meet a real weirdo at your table who makes constant inappropriate comments or something it could be bad but it's never happened to me yet.

 

RVD.

[kendon]

As a Platinum member of Princess, I get what the OP is saying. It is well known that dining on the Sapphire and Diamond is a nightmare. The dining rooms (all four of them) are cramped! The layout is awful as are the lines to get in. Please don't dismiss Princess in the future because of the awful dining situation, just try any other ship that those I mentioned. With any luck, Princess will consider reconfiguring the four dining rooms into the two larger ones when their dry dock comes up. Until then, I will steer clear of these two ships myself. My experience was equally bad.

[laidbackin LA]

Thanks, WCAB, for the confirmation.

 

I have always managed to carve out my personal space on other cruises before this last one.

[Sandytoes]

Ahh, this has to be the saddest thread I have ever read. :(

 

I gather you enjoy eating by yourself? :rolleyes:

 

 

 

 

Personally, I rather bump elbows then to dine alone.

 

Wishing you a joyful Thanksgiving!

 

 

 

 

Regretfully, I will not go to Princess again. I get a headache sitting at tables with total strangers.

 

Then there is breakfast, lunch and tea rubbing elbows with strangers. Like I said, it gives a headache.

[Christapie]

A family member of mine also does not like to cruise with many people and WILL NOT eat with others. They will only eat all their meals on their balcony, alone! But...... they also can afford to pay big bucks on the exclusive lines. So there are lines that cater to folks like you.

 

Christapie

[burm]

Frankly, when I got assigned to a "two-top" traditional dining one cruise (the particular line had no "anytime", was overbooked and no change in tables was forthcoming), I was quite disappointed...I hate to say it, but I can eat with my wife the other 350 days a year...

 

Are you my DH? Because that is exactly how we feel. Not that we don't enjoy each other's company, but not all the time. We'll save our private conversations for the cabin.

[WinnieinWA]

laidbackinLA...(Ithink not)

 

Just what DO you like about cruising if you don't like strangers and you don't like the native people of countries you cruise to? Methinks you should stay home or quityerbitch*n! PLEASE!

[Toots]

Sandytoes - Thanks for the family dining room photo. Can DH and I come to your house for Thanksgiving dinner? The last time we had a large family dinner, at Thanksgiving 2006, two of the sisters-in-law got into a terrible argument that has divided the family ever since. I'm still angry that it happened at our house. Sadly, I would rather make dinner conversation with total strangers than some of our family members. That's why we often cruise over the holidays. But that's veering off the topic..............

[kooljamming]

Ahh, this has to be the saddest thread I have ever read. :(

 

I gather you enjoy eating by yourself? :rolleyes:

 

 

 

 

 

Personally, I rather bump elbows then to dine alone.

 

Wishing you a joyful Thanksgiving!

 

I have you beat. Our table is set for 25.......can't wait:)

 

This is our first cruise on Princess; is the dining room a true cause for concern? We cruised RCCL and Carnival and never gave this a second thought. Should I be considering NCL or heading back to Carnival or Royal Caribbean. Oh, forget it I am crusing without my kids:)

[rdsqrl]

Regretfully, I will not go to Princess again. I get a headache sitting at tables with total strangers.

 

In dining rooms in the evening on Sapphire Princess couples get the shaft, having no elbow room or personal space from other adjacent couples. Why do I have more or less to keep my mouth shut dining with my spouse and having to overhear the conversation, mundane OR intimate, of the other couples inches away.

 

Celebrity and HAL give a bit of room for our own intimacy of conversation.

 

Then there is breakfast, lunch and tea rubbing elbows with strangers. Like I said, it gives a headache.

What the heck is "intimacy of conversation"??? And couples "get the shaft"? Good heavens, woman, if that's the way you speak, I can guarantee no one else is listening to you because they probably don't understand a word you're saying. Although thanks to larsen's quoting your other post, I note that you're pretty articulate when it comes to deriding other cultures. Do us all a favour and stay home where you can have "intimacy of conversation" to your heart's desire.

[Seal]

I have you beat. Our table is set for 25.......can't wait:)

 

This is our first cruise on Princess; is the dining room a true cause for concern? We cruised RCCL and Carnival and never gave this a second thought. Should I be considering NCL or heading back to Carnival or Royal Caribbean. Oh, forget it I am crusing without my kids:)

 

looks like our skinny dining room with the kitchen on the left--sliding doors in front and the table reaching way into the living room--then

the extras sitting on the floor by the coffee table--more upstairs in the game room--6 more at the table in the family room--have moved from that house--but the dining room with what looks like kitchen on the left and probably living room on the end we can't see--

 

Sometimes it's good NOT to have 30 for dinner--after all the shopping for food etc. then I felt good sometimes up all the night before--in the morning turn on a cooking show on the radio for folks in trouble--The good thing about the large group--they all clean while I sit at the table--probably won't have more than 12 this year

 

I like large tables of unknowns for dining -- I love Anytime Dining on the ships--I also talk to people in front or in back of me in the market line--Oh well--we're all soooooo different !!! Thank goodness

 

Nancy:D

[jennifers490]

mundane posts give me a headache...

[neeliec]

Laidback - maybe a request on the first day to the Head Waiter for you to be assigned to a table for 2 with a little extra space might have done the trick?

 

Hubby and I were at a table for 10 on the Island and I distinctly remember seeing two different couples at tables by themselves who were a significant distance from us or from any other bigger tables.

 

Sorry your experience was so awful.

 

Regretfully, I will not go to Princess again. I get a headache sitting at tables with total strangers.

 

In dining rooms in the evening on Sapphire Princess couples get the shaft, having no elbow room or personal space from other adjacent couples. Why do I have more or less to keep my mouth shut dining with my spouse and having to overhear the conversation, mundane OR intimate, of the other couples inches away.

 

Celebrity and HAL give a bit of room for our own intimacy of conversation.

 

Then there is breakfast, lunch and tea rubbing elbows with strangers. Like I said, it gives a headache.

[dot73]

"Ahh, this has to be the saddest thread I have ever read."

 

If you think this one is "sad", read some of the other ones started by the OP. Some people just never see the glass as being half full and they are usually the ones that have some fabulous cruises listed below their names. I almost feel sorry for the OP. I think he/she is running out of ships and/or destinations to complain about.

[jennifers490]

"Ahh, this has to be the saddest thread I have ever read."

 

If you think this one is "sad", read some of the other ones started by the OP. Some people just never see the glass as being half full and they are usually the ones that have some fabulous cruises listed below their names. I almost feel sorry for the OP. I think he/she is running out of ships and/or destinations to complain about.

 

i was bored and read some of them...i've never seen such a negative person...the question is why is she posting all of these when she's not a princess fan and not offering anything constructive...maybe just a cry for attention

[Tina G]

Dear OP: Your cruise was ruined because you actually had to eat with other people? How sad. There are people in this world with many more serious problems than you. I suggest you try volunteering in a children's hospital or a cancer center. Maybe help the homeless? There is a lot of good you can do. You really do need to GET A LIFE!!!!!!!!!:mad:

[Go-Bucks!]

Dear Laidback,

 

If you're wealthy, get a full suite and eat all your meals in your room alone.

 

If you're not wealthy, go to the Horizon Court buffet and take your food back to your room and eat alone.

 

I can guarantee you, you'll be doing everyone else in the dining room a HUGE favor! :D

 

P.S. You might really enjoy a nice vacation to an isolated, mountain cabin or a monastery that practices silence. Best wishes!!

[leoandhugh]

One negative thread after another by this OP. Anything but "laid back". She doesn't care for the passengers she has to share meals with. Just imagine how they must feel:(

[Paulchili]

Regretfully, I will not go to Princess again. I get a headache sitting at tables with total strangers.

 

In dining rooms in the evening on Sapphire Princess couples get the shaft, having no elbow room or personal space from other adjacent couples. Why do I have more or less to keep my mouth shut dining with my spouse and having to overhear the conversation, mundane OR intimate, of the other couples inches away.

Celebrity and HAL give a bit of room for our own intimacy of conversation.

Then there is breakfast, lunch and tea rubbing elbows with strangers. Like I said, it gives a headache.

 

This is what living in LA can do to you - disliking others.

Maybe you should move to another country where most people actually like each other - like Northern California.

On second thought, stay where you are.

[chasetf]

laidbackin LA

 

Why is anyone giving this poster the time of day. :confused: His only purpose it to vent and trash Princess on petty bitches based on his one experience on Sapphire.

 

Check his / her posts..... then ignore em and let fade into the sunset. ;)